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Dragon of the West
The Dragon of the West was a symbol used primarily by the Arkasian Realm to represent itself, particularly in propaganda and political cartoons. In political cartoons, it is typically drawn as a larger-than-life black dragon which is being poked with sticks or other such items by leaders or important figures of other nations. Notably, it appeared during and leading up to both World War I and World War II. World War I Leading up to World War I, it was largely believed both within the Arkasian Realm and internationally that it would not involve itself in that conflict were it to occur despite requests by both the Triple Entente and Central Powers for alliance and as such, it appeared in political cartoons which depicted the respective leaders of the nations on both sides trying and failing to wake it. However, once the war began, the Realm almost immediately declared war on the Central Powers, leaving no doubt of it's intentions, with political cartoons then displaying the dragon breathing fire at fleeing Central Powers leaders while the leaders of the Triple Entente rode on it's back and Arkasian propaganda displaying messages such as "The Dragon is flying to Europe! Do your part TODAY by joining it!" and "Our Dragon is brave enough to face the Kaiser's armies; are you?". World War II During the lead-up to World War II, however, it seemed much more likely that the Realm would not involve itself in any potential conflict due largely to extreme stagnation which was still in the process of being resolved, leading to political cartoons depicting the leaders of the nations which were targets of the Axis Powers standing together surrounded on all sides by much larger depictions of the Axis leaders, with Allied leaders standing to the side, unable to help their allies and unable to wake the Dragon and therefore having no idea how to proceed. Arkasian propaganda at the time generally depicted the dragon slumbering with various words above and below it, perhaps most famously a series of posters put up across the Realm reading "Our Dragon slumbers while the world burns! Quickly, do your duty to your country and wake him!" which was purposefully mistranslated by the Arkasians so that the Valerics, among others, believed it read "Our Dragon slumbers peacefully! Do not wake him lest he burns us all!". Perhaps the most famous references to the Dragon of the West are in the message by High King Draconius II Doomer to the Valeric leadership upon their failed attack against the Realm stating "You have awoken the Dragon of the West, and you shall burn." and in an Arkasian song written around the same time they joined the First World War that was later referenced many times and also reused (particularly around the time of the Second World War) which contained these lyrics; "They've awoken the Dragon, Now see how they've angered it, Over there we'll ride the Dragon, Now see how they run from it!" Category:Articles by Arkius Doomer